Wichita eagle., 1887-10-20
THE ROAD AGENTS.

There were five men of us in one Of the
old MaripoSa stage coaches before The
days of the railroad, and il was O'Clock
in the afternoon OF an August day We
were on our way to Stockton, and Of the
passengers one WAS a lieutenant in the
regular army, another a tourist in scar Oh
Of health. third ranchman. and the
other two were prospectors and miners
None of us had met each other previous 10
the start. Those were perilous times and
he first half hour was spent in sizing each
other mp. don't know to what conchI-
sion the others came. but | looked o, er
the four men and said TO myself:
1.-The lieutenant ought To fight in case
we areattacked. but he seems too nervous
10 he gamey. The tourist is i'll and has
no sand. but the ranchman and prospector
can be depended on.
At that time the coach which was not
stopped twice out of five trips was con-
Sidered very lucky. In some few in
stances the robbers were driven of, but
In most cases the passengers submitted to
being "held up" and were glad to get of
with nothing worse. / had with me over
$1,000 in bank bills and gold, and l was
determined not to part with that money
$4,000, and the miner about IS, 0OO as
afterwards learned, and both had deter
mined to fight. We had Just forded the
MERGED river, and had come to q lonely
stretch OF road, when the ranchman pulled
his revolver and examined the caps. Il
was not yet restored to the holster when
we heard shout, the report OF pistol.
and the stage came to q full stop. /
reached for my pistol, as did the miner,
knowing that robbers were at hand, but
before mine was out the lieutenant flung
his arms around me and cried out:
For Gods sake make no move or we
shall be murdered Let them take all we
haver'
At the same time the tourist flung HIM
self upon the miner, and neither of us had
q weapon out when a robber showed him
self at either door. The ranchman was
ready, however, and he killed the man ON
his side. He would have also killed the
other, but his revolver failed on the second
shot, and the robber pushed his revolver
In and fired with the muzzle pressed
against the poor fellows heart. A third
robber then came up, and we were covered
from either door and called upon to sur
render. The jig was up. and we climbed
out, delivering our pistols butt foremost
% we left the stage. There were four Of
Us and only two robbers, but when q man
has the drop on you and means business
it's no Gse TO kick. We were placed In
row, anu while one of the fellows kept us
covered the other went through each man
In turn. The lieutenant shelled out q
watch and $40. the tourist a watch and
$500, and they got from the other two Of
Us the sums have previously named.
had my bank bills in my bootlegs, but -
we were forced TO strip to our shirts, they
found every last dollar. While we were
dressing the body Of the ranchman was
pulled from the coach and stripped and
robbed
have no doubt that the robbers meant
TO shoot every one Of us after securing the
plumber, in order to avenge the death OF
their comrade, but the unusually large
booty put them in good spirits, and they
underwent a change of heart The one
who searched US stepped over the dead
body dozen times without seeming to
care whether it WIS log or man. When
finally through with US he bent over the
body and began robbing it, saying to his
companion:
"Bin won't have any more NE fix
money, and we might Is well take Ids
Aallars along. Poor Blll We shant